Three years after, North-south Sudan peace ties remain fragile

January 9, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — North and south Sudan on Wednesday marked three years since they signed a peace deal that ended Africa’s longest-running civil war with relations marred by the threat of a return to hostilities.

In a marked difference to 2007, no major ceremony was organised for the day of the anniversary of the January 9, 2005 signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended 21 years of war in which an estimated two million people died.

Around six million people were displaced by the fighting, which also broke the back of the southern Sudanese economy.

South Sudan deputy parliament speaker Lual Lual hailed the CPA for reviving hopes for peace, despite continued “on-off attacks by tribal militias” backed by Khartoum against the forces of former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

Echoing the feelings of a generation fatigued by war, he told AFP that “the most important thing is stability, the key to investment opportunities.

“People should be patient as the two main partners attempt to fully implement the agreement.”

Last year, a rally in the southern capital Juba degenerated into an argument between President Omar el-Beshir and the south’s First Vice President Salva Kiir.

Kiir accused Beshir of failing to apply the agreement, while Beshir said that the administration of Kiir and his SPLM was riddled with corruption and bad management.

Relations have degenerated since then with the fragile peace hitting its worst crisis on October 13, when southern ministers walked out of the unity government saying the north was dragging its feet over the CPA.

The crisis only ended in December with the ministers rejoining government having hammered out a deal on a timetable for the CPA.

On Tuesday, under that deal, northern troops finally left oil-rich southern areas, having missed an initial deadline of December 31.

Kiir himself, previously wary of the capital, has raised his profile in Khartoum, appearing increasingly frequently at official openings and in the media.

Beshir has repeated that there will be no return to war, despite calling in November for his National Congress Party militia to be remobilised in preparation for combat.

“War brings nothing but blood and creates nothing but orphans and widows,” Beshir said in a speech on Tuesday.

The key remaining sticking points are the status of the oil-rich region of Abyei, which is claimed by both sides, and where exactly the north-south border will eventually be.

Arab militias backed by Khartoum continue to attack SPLM forces in the south and recent clashes have left dozens dead.

Under the terms of the CPA, elections are due in 2009 and a referendum two years leter will allow southerners to say whether they want to continue with the north or become an entirely independent state.

The southerners say that to remain with the north, they must be reassured that the north has a properly functioning democracy in which they can trust, without which they will secede.

In Juba, Pastor Abraham Bungkuac, who joined the rebels aged 11 before leaving Sudan to attend a theological school in Uganda, rejoiced at the peace accord.

“There’s no war,” he told AFP. “I enjoy peace. Now I can work.”

The child soldier turned priest voiced hope for north-south understanding but also for unity among southerners and for more government investment.

“I think the government has no revenue,” Bungkuac said. “When they get the money from oil, some people take it.”

(AFP)